thread: 2009-12-18 : Seed content
On 2010-01-19, Joel wrote:
OK, I'm glad we're communicating on that. I do think maybe we're dealing with different concepts of what sorts of things rules frameworks can provide.
NON-hypothetical example: Dogs in the Vineyard gives you Town Creation and GMing rules: create a town in trouble using THESE steps, then in play reveal the town THIS way. That gets you a certain result in terms of play content and the rewarding experience thereof. Now, I've still got to play the interactions on my own; Vincent's not gonna feed me my lines like Cyrano. But because of that framework in the book, I always have a guiding principle that gives direction to the moment-to-moment bits of roleplaying and narration. I'm never just "stuck," wondering how to do my part to move the game forward.
That kind of framework for running espionage stories would have worked WONDERS for me in the OTE game. (Which is not to say that OTE is a faulty design; it's basically William S. Burroughs: the Game, not John le Carr?: the game or Tom Clancy: the Game. I'm just saying for what we ended up doing with it, I was in sore need of guidance.)
Anyway, if Thoughtbubble, Vincent and everyone are done, maybe I should pack it in too. This is basically a conversation we can continue over the phone. :)
Peace,
-Joel
